Let's get through 2010!

I'm going to do a really quick recap of the rest of 2010 after September. I just want to capture it all down and then we can possibly get up to the actual present time...

• Mark's brother Tyler came to visit us for a few days because he was going to leave on his mission soon and wanted to get some family time.

• Mark and I babysat Brett and Becky's three boys (i.e. our nephews) for a weekend.
  

• Mark and I set up our tent in the front room, where we slept out and read books and watched movies/tv for the weekend.
  

• We attended a Halloween party that someone threw in our ward, which included bobbing for apples.
  

• Amber came to San Jose with the rest of the BYU Women's Soccer team and we were able to hang out with her and watch the game.
  

• I made my most favorite Halloween decorations. They are made out of wood blocks that are each 10 inches tall. I loved making them and having them up in our house.
  

• We spent Halloween with the Abbotts down in Yorba Linda, which included dressing up for a ward party with all the family, attending Tyler's farewell, and having a family Halloween party that Abby put together. I was finally able to be part of all the Abbott's family traditions, such as the chocolate chip cookie ghost, dunking for apples, wrapping people up as mummies, and the skeleton story.
  

• We spent Thanksgiving in Utah with the Wadsworths, which included playing games, eating a yummy dinner at Grandma's house with the rest of the Bowen family, and spent lots of time hanging out with the family.
  

• Mark completely planned and put together an Adventure Date, complete with building me a fort in our bedroom and letting me find clues to the different activities he had planned. We got yummy See's candies and borrowed an adventure movie (Indiana Jones of course) from the library, followed by a trip to the Egyptian museum the next day.
  

• I put together a Baby It's Cold Outside date, which included looking at Christmas lights, and eating cookies and hot chocolate near the Christmas tree while watching Elf (which features that song).
  

• We celebrated Christmas by decorating our house and then drove down to the Abbotts in Yorba Linda to celebrate for two weeks. We looked at more lights with the family, spent lots of time hanging out with our family (including our cute nieces and nephews, like baby Katelyn who loved pulling her uncle Mark's hair... what a patient guy!), opened presents on Christmas morning, went out to eat, and went on a hike.
  

Sunday, Day 10, Last Day in Hawaii (sigh...)

• Sunday was the only day that we actually set an alarm and woke up early. We went to a 9 am sacrament meeting in the Honolulu Tabernacle building. It is by far the most beautiful church building we had ever seen and was rather large. We ended up only staying through the first talk and then had to head back to our hotel to quickly pack before we needed to check out.
  
• After packing and checking out, we went to Burgers on the Edge for lunch. This was a fast food burger place that we had passed several times a day and always interested us. It was unique because we could fill out our specific order on laminated sheets that we handed to the cashier. Mark loved it because he likes unique things on his hamburger, not the usuals. We were also able to get sweet potato fries with our meal. Yummy.
  
• After lunch we drove up to the North Shore and went back to Waimea Bay. We ended up having to pay for parking across the street because it was so crowded. When we got down to the beach, the waves were absolutely huge. The lifeguards were warning everyone not to get into the water, but many people were regardless. After sitting on the beach and reading, Mark decided that he wanted to go in and swim around. I was a little nervous, but knew he was a good swimmer. I went down closer to the edge of the waves while he went in, just to keep an eye on him. I started taking pictures with our disposable camera (thus the weird quality), when a wave came up higher than usual and knocked me down, which knocked Mark's sunglasses that I had just tucked into my swimsuit to fall off and get quickly taken away. Before I could even think, the glasses were already gone and the next wave was coming in. I kept looking out for them, but we never found them again. I believe a porpoise is out there sporting sunglasses somewhere. Either way, I felt awful about it, but at least it was the end of our trip. See how huge the waves were below...
  

• We had to finish off our Hawaii vacation with one more trip to Giovanni's Shrimp Shack and then to Matsumoto's for shaved ice and ten packs of Hichew's (these yummy fruit candies that Mark used to get in Taiwan).
  

• We had to fill up our car in Hale'iwa and there was a light sprinkling of rain. During our stop at the gas station, we were wowed to see two full gorgeous rainbows that filled the sky. Absolutely breathtaking. They were big enough that I couldn't get the full rainbows in one picture, just in halves.
  
• We then ended our Hawaii adventure by sitting on Hale'iwa Beach as the sun went down. The scenery was beautiful and the sound of the waves so soothing. We talked about our adventures and were able to reminisce. What a spectacular way to wrap up Hawaii for us.
  

• After the sun went down, we changed out of our swim clothes in the public bathrooms and then had to rearrange our packing in the dark parking lot. We left Hale'iwa around 7 pm and drove straight to the airport. Below is our last picture we took in Hawaii, where we camped out in the airport courtyard amid the lush vegetation and enjoyed the solitude of Hawaii. We just weren't quite ready to be in the airport among the hustle and bustle of normal life yet. One thing I have learned is that Mark and I absolutely love vacationing together. He is my best friend and makes every situation more fun.
  

• Well, after that we got on the airplane around 10 pm and flew home through the night. Turns out that may not have been the best idea ever though, as much as I don't regret anything to do with Hawaii. I just couldn't for the life of me get to sleep. I would go back and forth between trying to watch the new "Karate Kid" movie and then trying desperately to sleep. Basically I had a mental/emotional breakdown at some point and was in tears because I couldn't fall asleep. Mark made me switch to the window seat in the hopes that I would be able to get more comfortable, despite my continued crying and protestations. I was a serious grump.
  
• We arrived in San Francisco around 6:15 am, with very very little sleep and trying not to be too grumpy (Mark much better at this than me). We had to walk around the airport for a long time trying to find our shuttle. Once we were finally picked up, we started the long, grueling journey back. We literally didn't get home until 9 am, partly because we were traveling during traffic times, but mostly because our shuttle driver was absolutely terrible. I was getting the biggest headache ever and was getting more and more grumpy. He was the type of driver who would go super fast and then slam on his brakes. Seriously terrible.
• After we got home, we jumped in bed and slept for about three hours. We then had a nice relaxing day at home, trying to get ready for real life.